Lessons Learned

Hello Family & Friends!
      As some of you may have heard, I had a successful tournament last week at Wigwam. I shot 68 69 72 (-7) and took 2nd place!! It was a whole new experience for me, as I was leading after the first two days. I did my best to stay calm and play the course the exact way I had the previous days. Although I ended up shooting par, it wasn't quite good enough to hold on to first place. Perhaps my nerves, excitement and allowing my thoughts to get ahead of myself, played a role in the end result. Here is just a little bit of how my final round unfolded.....
       I stood on the first tee excited and confident to get the day started. However, I didn't start as well as I hoped, and made a few bogies in the opening holes. A little frustrated, I pulled it together and made some birdies. From there, my day was up and down, compiled of missed fairways, good punch shots, great putts and a lot of boring pars. When I showed up at the treacherous 18th hole I was one over par but ahead of the other two leaders in my group.  I thought if I birdied the last hole, the way I had both days previous, I would have the win in the bag. I stood up on that tee box and striped the ball down the "alternate route" hole #1 fairway, while I watched my competitors tee off with irons down the skinny 18th surrounded by water. As I walked to my ball, having avoided all chances of water, my heart rate picked up thinking, "I may have won my first professional event". Arriving at the ball I had 210 yards over the trees to reach
the big par-5 in two shots. I took a few deep breathes and stuck it on the green for the third day in a row. When no one else was looking, I jumped up and down in excitement. Before I got out of control, I was reminded by my trusty caddy that I still had to putt and that someone already in the clubhouse may have had me beat. He was right...like always. I two putted for birdie and drove nervously to the scoring tent. As soon as I arrived, I saw the red numbers on the scoreboard, and saw that my competitor fired a 68 to beat me by a single shot. For many minutes I was angry, angry knowing I had lost and knowing I had hit only four fairways that day. After cooling off, a fellow competitor reminded me how grateful I should be because with the way I drove the ball that day, I could have easily ended up in 6th place. She was exactly right. Although the tournament didn't end how I anticipated, I am grateful for the loss. I learned how to lead, how to scramble for pars, how to stay in the moment, and how to act when you lose.
        With a week of rest, I take on Ahwatukee CC starting on Monday! Wish me luck!

A Word from the Caddy

Hello Everybody,

          As you can probably tell from the title, this post is being written by Cheyenne's caddy and husband, Bruce. Cheyenne has asked me to share with you all what we have been up to and how the 2014 season has started.  It has been two weeks since Cheyenne's first official professional season has began and everything is going as you would expect when starting a new career. There are always going to be ups and downs, and bumps in the road to overcome. In the first two tournaments of the season Cheyenne finished just out of the money line, but that's not important. We have learned how incredibly powerful the subconscious mind can be and how important confidence is to be able to perform at the highest level. Despite the imperfect results, I was very proud of the way Cheyenne conducted herself the last few weeks... she is slowly learning to not to be so hard on herself! Also, I am learning more and more every round how to be a better caddy and help her on this journey. Speaking of which, a few words on my caddy journey....

        When Cheyenne and I decided to pursue the desire to become a professional golfer, I knew pretty close to nothing about the mechanics of a golf swing.  It was a mutual decision that I would become her caddy to save on money and be able to share every step of this journey together. After that was decided I knew I had a LOT of learning to do. My first step was to research what being a caddy meant, and how to become the best caddy I could be. I found a book written by former and current PGA and LPGA caddies that taught me a whole lot about what goes into being a caddy. One of the biggest lessons I learned from that book is that caddies not only carry the bag and help determine club selection, they need to be encouraging, positive, knowledgeable, and many other things. These few attributes would be much easier to achieve if the professional golfer you are caddying for wasn't your wife. For those of you who are married, you know that when one of you isn't happy, the other isn't too far behind. The most difficult part about caddying for your wife is being able to separate personal from professional. This is something that we are both learning and will continue to learn for the next few years. With the ups and downs that have come with this journey, it has been one of the most incredible, yet difficult things we have ever done. Cheyenne has a very bright future ahead in golf and we are just tapping into her potential. We are working harder than ever and are very excited for what's to come. We take on Wigwam Golf Resort this week in Litchfield Park, AZ! Wish us luck!!